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The Documentary Podcast
The rising cost of living: Food
The Documentary Podcast
May 28, 2022

The head of the World Bank recently warned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could cause a global recession. There are additional reasons for the global economic crisis of course. We are now more than two years into a pandemic, and every country has its own political situation which may, or may not, contribute to the problem. People from countries including Afghanistan, Lebanon, Indonesia and Turkey share their stories with host James Reynolds about rising prices, as well as shortages of food and medicine.

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In February this year, a Kenyan woman called Joy, who was a 19-year-old student at the time, discovered that she was at the center of a viral video circulating on the  social media platform, TikTok. In it, she's approached  by a man who says he's from Russia and their interaction is secretly filmed by him. Several other similar clips of women were shared widely online. The creator of the videos had been promoting himself online as a so-called pickup coach and his content has proved extremely popular. But for many of the women, these videos have had real life consequences. Mungai Ngige from the BBC's Disinformation Unit investigated.

The Fifth Floor is at the heart of global storytelling on the BBC World Service, bringing you the best stories from journalists in the BBC's 43 language services. We're here to help you make sense of the stories making headlines around the world; to excite your curiosity and to get to grips with the facts. Recent episodes have investigated Russia’s youth armies and how they make soldiers of Ukrainian children; featured the BBC team who were the first journalists to the site of the Nigerian school kidnappings and reflected the effects of internet blackouts in Iran, Uganda and India. If you want to know more about Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, and the legacy of Hugo Chavez; or how Vladimir Putin’s network of deep cover spies operates; or why Donald Trump signed an executive order granting white South Africans asylum in the US, we have all those stories and more.

Presenter: Faranak Amidi. Producer: Laura Thomas and Caroline Ferguson

Presented by Faranak Amidi.

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)


26min 29sec



The rising cost of living: Food

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